[FAQ]

I’m looking for some fresh ways to increase engagement in our email campaigns and make our content more dynamic. I’ve been considering using animated GIFs to make our emails more eye-catching.

Is this still an effective tactic in 2025, or is it seen as dated or unprofessional now? I’m also curious about any potential downsides, like if large GIF files hurt email loading times or cause deliverability issues with spam filters.

Curious to hear if people are still having success with GIFs. Thanks!

[Jeff Bullas]

Yes, animated GIFs can still be a very effective tool for increasing engagement and adding personality to your email campaigns, provided they are used thoughtfully and with a clear purpose.

First, let us look at why they are effective. The primary advantage of a GIF is that it captures attention with motion in a way that a static image cannot. This can be used to quickly demonstrate a simple product feature in action, showcase a rapid sequence of different products, add a touch of appropriate humour, or simply draw the viewer’s eye towards your main call to action.

Second, there are some best practices for using them. You should always ensure the GIF has a clear purpose and adds value to the email, rather than just being a distracting animation for the sake of it. The GIF should also be high-quality and on-brand; a low-resolution, pixelated GIF can make your email look unprofessional. It is also important to not overdo it. One or two well-placed and impactful GIFs in an email are far more effective than filling it with constant, flashing animations.

Third, you must consider the technical aspects, with the biggest one being file size. Large GIF files can significantly increase the loading time of your email, which can be frustrating for subscribers, particularly those on mobile devices or with slower internet connections. It is crucial that you optimise your GIFs to keep the file size as small as possible, ideally under 1 megabyte. You can do this by limiting the number of frames in the animation, reducing the colour palette, and using online GIF compression tools before you add it to your email.

Fourth, you need to be aware of email client support. While most modern web and mobile email clients like Gmail and Apple Mail fully support animated GIFs, some older desktop versions of Microsoft Outlook will only display the first frame of the GIF as a static image. Because of this, it is an essential best practice to ensure that the very first frame of your GIF is a complete, comprehensible image that conveys the core message on its own.

In summary, animated GIFs remain an effective tool for engagement when used strategically. The keys to success are to use them with a clear purpose, to ensure they are highly optimised to keep the file size small, and to design them so that the first frame works as a standalone image for those email clients that do not support animation.

Cheers,

Jeff

[Author]

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